In the Firstbase Platform, IT Admins can create Packages to assign equipment options for employees. Packages allow you to standardize what items employees can order during onboarding, ensuring they receive what they need without manual back-and-forth.
What is a Package?
A Package is a pre-configured list of items (e.g., laptops, monitors, headphones) that employees can order when they are onboarded. Packages can be tailored to specific roles, like “Marketing” or “Intern/Assistant,” to simplify the ordering process.
Examples:
- Marketing Package: Includes 3 laptop options, 2 monitor options, 1 keyboard, and 3 headphone options.
- Intern/Assistant Package: Includes 2 laptop options and 1 headphone.
Automated Packages: If you don’t want employees to choose between options, you can create an Automated package. This will place an order automatically for the assigned employee without them selecting items. These packages only support shipping to the employee's home address.
Why only employee address?
Automatic orders don’t include a manual review step, and we can’t guarantee that an office exists in the employee’s country when the order is triggered. To avoid delivery errors, automatic packages are limited to home address delivery.
So, as an admin, you can configure packages to define how they are delivered. When setting up a package, you can configure:
- Whether to Make an automatic order (an order is placed automatically when the package is assigned)
- Whether it Requires admin approval before submission
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Shipping destination: Set where orders can be shipped to based on who this package is assigned to.
- Shipping to employee – ships directly to the employee
- Shipping to office – ships to a fixed office location (if a default office is set); if not, they see a list of offices available in their country and choose one of them.
- Flexible – lets the employee choose between their home address and the office (if a default office is set, only that office appears; if not, they see a list of offices in their country)
This feature is designed to help you support hybrid teams and manage deliveries more efficiently.
Steps to Create a New Package
- Go to Product Catalog > Packages.
- Click “New Package” in the top-right corner.
- A window will pop up where you’ll enter the following information:
- Package Name: A descriptive name for the package (e.g., “Marketing Team” or “Intern Equipment”).
- Notes: Add helpful reminders for employees.
- Enable the following options if needed:
- Make an automatic order: Automatically place an order for employees assigned to this package without allowing them to choose items.
- Requires admin approval: Orders from this package require an admin to approve before being submitted.
- Set the Shipping destination:
- Shipping to employee: Ships to the employee’s saved home address.
- Flexible: Lets the employee choose between their address or the default office selected by the admin (if no default is defined, the employee can choose between available offices in their country).
6. Click Save to create the package.
Once your package is created, you’ll continue configuring it by adding products to each category (e.g., Computers, Monitors, Headsets).
Adding Products to Your Package
After creating your package, you will see a menu on the left with all available categories. Follow these steps to configure your package:
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Select Items for the Package
Browse the categories and choose the items you want to include in the package. These will be the options available for the employee to select during their order. -
Set an Item Limit (Optional)
You can specify a limit on how many of a particular item an employee can order.- Example: If you add 5 computer options to the package, you can configure the option:
- How many computers can a person order?
- Set the limit to 1.
This will allow the employee to choose only 1 computer from the package options.
- Example: If you add 5 computer options to the package, you can configure the option:
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Require an Item to Be Selected (Optional)
You can enable the "Require a computer to be selected" option to make selecting an item mandatory.- When this option is enabled, employees must select an item from the specified category before they can submit their order.
- This ensures that the item is not optional, and employees cannot complete the order process without including it.
- Expand Advanced Settings to set your Equipment Preferences:
- Prioritize new equipment before shipping used
- Prioritize used equipment before shipping new
- Only ship new equipment
- Apply any Global filters (e.g., Brand, Country, Supplier) or category-specific filters to tailor product selection.
- Click Save to confirm the configuration for each category.
- Repeat this process for each category you want to include in the package.
Understanding the Packages Table
When you navigate to Product Catalog > Packages, you'll see a table that displays all existing packages in your organization. This view helps you monitor and manage package usage at a glance.
Here’s what each column shows:
- Name: The name you assigned to the package
- # Orders: The number of orders placed using that package
- # Items Deployed: How many items from the package have been deployed to employees
- # Assigned Users: The total number of employees currently assigned to the package
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Rules: This column shows if the package has:
- A shipping method (e.g., Shipping to employee)
- Additional rules like Automatic order or Requires approval
You can click on a package name to edit or view its configuration and usage details. From here, you can:
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- Review package details (name, items included, and notes).
- Edit the package configuration.
- Archive a package if it’s no longer in use.
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Assigning and Managing Packages for Employees
How to See Who Has a Package Assigned
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Go to Menu > People and Offices > People.
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In the table, you’ll see columns such as:
- Name
- Access
- Packages
- Status
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Use the filter options to search for a specific package and see which employees have it assigned.
How to Edit the Package Assigned to an Employee
- Go to Menu > People and Offices > People.
- Click on the employee whose package you want to modify.
- In the Profile section (bottom-right), you can update or change the package assigned to them.
FAQs:
1. Why Can’t My Employee See Equipment to Order Within Their Package?
If an employee doesn’t see any equipment available to order, there could be several reasons:
- Package Assignment: Verify that the package is correctly assigned to the employee in their profile. For detailed steps, refer to the earlier section titled "How to See Who Has a Package Assigned."
- The Package is Empty: Ensure the package assigned to the employee has items configured. For detailed steps, refer to the earlier section titled “Steps to Create a New Package” to verify the configuration.
- Region-Specific Issues: Some items in the package may not be available in the employee’s region. If pricing is missing for a given product in a specific region via the catalog, check the standard catalog to add it. You can consult our Help Center article for guidance. For custom devices not in the standard catalog, contact your CSM.
- Quantity Limit: The user may already have an item (e.g., a computer) assigned to them, and the package is set to allow only one computer. Review the settings and item limits for the package to confirm. For detailed steps, refer to the earlier section titled "Adding Products to your Package" (2. Set an Item limit").
2. What happens if an employee is in a different country than the office assigned?
A: This shouldn’t happen under proper configuration, as as an admin, you're expected to assign offices within the employee’s country. However, if it does occur, the employee will see a message stating that the office location is not available. If the package is set to Flexible, they’ll still be able to select their home address as the shipping destination.
3. Can employees see a dropdown of offices?
Yes, but only if the package is set to Office or Flexible without a default office selected. In both cases, the employee will be able to choose from a dropdown of office locations available in their country only. Offices from other countries will not appear to avoid misconfiguration.
4. Can Admins change the shipping destination after the order is placed?
Yes, but only if the items haven't been assigned inventory yet and the order status is "Ordered" or "Awaiting Approval."
5. How can Admins change the shipping destination?
Go to the Orders and Returns section from the menu. In the Orders tab, search for the relevant order and click into it. At the bottom of the order details, you'll see a label that says Modify order? Click it and choose Change destination location from the dropdown menu to adjust where the order will be delivered.
6. Can I make a package Flexible and Automatic?
No. Automatic orders are only compatible with the "Employee Address" setting.
7. What happens if no office exists in the employee's region?
For packages with Flexible shipping, the system will default to the employee's home address. For Office-only shipping packages, admin intervention will be required.
8. Can employees cancel or modify an order after submitting it?
Yes. Employees can cancel or modify their order as long as it hasn’t entered processing. However, they can only modify the items in the order—not the shipping destination.
9. Can employees change the shipping destination after submitting the order?
No. Only admins can modify the shipping destination, as explained in FAQ #4 above.
10. How can I preview what employees will see when placing an order?
You can view example screenshots and explanations of the employee experience for each delivery setting in the section: What Employees Will See. This includes how the interface looks for shipping to home address, office (with or without default), and flexible options.
If you need help configuring packages or have additional questions, please contact Firstbase Support.
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